beginnerswork

We were inspired by the paintings of Marc Chagall when we made these little masterpieces. See DRAW! How to draw all kinds of things... for teachers and children.

I knew it would be difficult for these children to visualize upside down and sideways but I thought the exercises might stretch their skills and be fun. These were two groups of Pre-K 5's but I think this activity would be useful and rewarding up to second grade.

I devised this cut paper scheme to trick them, as you can see many ended up with their feet on the ground any way. These are from two different classes.

They are the culmination of our practice with symbolic drawing. When children know that their images will be “read” they do wonderfully expressive and clear drawings. They also ask for help, just as they will when they write a short story. Clarity and nuance became important.

Each dreamscape is planned using many skills that students use when they become writers. They choose a subject, construct a detailed idea, mapped out the scenes, decided on which elements should be more important than others.

In the end we have an interesting well thought out visual essay. It has a theme and details and atmosphere because it was visualized and planned before the drawing began.

I am very proud of this activity. It is the central thesis for my philosophy. Everyone worked joyfully! Even children who had difficulty, finished. For some planning was the lesson, for others, the fine motor process was the challenge, but when they finished they were each equally proud of their masterpiece.

I have included many examples of this delightful work below. I thought you should see the range of finished work. Please "read" as many as you wish. 

I am a princess and my family lives in a castle...

My family is on vacation and we are diving together.

I am the super fish man and my family has come to visit me under the sea. 

A day at the ocean with my family ...

I am a pilot and I am flying my whole family to Florida. 

A day at the beach with my family, playing in the water and staying cool in the shade.

I am a butterfly and I live in a roof garden in NYC. 

My family lives in a castle even the baby.

Directions for one painting...

• Paper is heavy weight drawing paper
• cut into 18 inch square pieces
• divide one of the two into six pieces as shown above of different sizes
• label each piece with the artist's name in pencil on the back
• Peter's dream was to be catching fireflies with his family so I wrote out everything he could think of about that dream. Sounds, colors, time of day, what would you catch them in? Snacks? Etc.
• The child draws in each part in pencil (teacher helps with proportions and basic planning). This is the connection to writing
• Then the artist traces his lines with a black sharpie. Should be supervised for young children
• Then finally Peter colors each piece with markers. Each stage takes place over one or two days.
•  When all pieces are finished, Peter pasted the pieces back together like a puzzle
•  and the teacher pasted red strips around the edge for a frame. 

I am a fairy and so is Alice. We live in a magic wood. We are friends with the bunny fairies and we visit a fairy ring.

A day at the beach making sand castles and collecting shells.  

My family and I are going on a trip to the pool. 

My family is on a trip into  to the moon. We brought apples and cookies.

I am a space princess and my family lives in a castle  in space.

My family is on a trip to Africa. We are taking pictures. 

My family and I are going on a trip into space. 

All my friends are butterflies and we live in a garden.